This website is run by School Life on behalf of Walsall Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
• zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• Images without alternative text will not be read by a screen reader
• Low colour contrast against the background will cause issues for the visually impaired
• Forms without labels will cause issues for screen readers
• Moving Images that cannot  be paused, stopped or hidden
• PDF with missing titles, tagging and low colour contrast

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

• walsallvirtualschool@walsall.gov.uk
• 01922 652816

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 days.

If you would like to provide feedback on our website. Please follow the link to our contact Virtual School’ page.

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact Virtual School:

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations'). If you're not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.

Find out how to contact Virtual School.

Walsall Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by July 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Some parts of the website do not have sufficient contrast. Between the text and background colours. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast (minimum)). We plan to amend the colour contrast by July 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of colour meets accessibility standards

Some forms have not been marked up correctly. This may impact blind or low vision users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We plan to amend the forms by July 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of forms meets accessibility standards.

Some moving images cannot be paused, stopped or hidden. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.2.2 (Pause, Stop, Hide). We plan to amend the forms by July 2024. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our moving images meets accessibility standards.

Some of our PDFs are not formatted so they’re accessible to a screen reader. Some errors may include, missing:

1. Non-text content. All non-text content presented to the user should have a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose. If these are missing, this doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text content. We plan to amend this by July 2024
2. Colour contrast. Some parts of PDF’s do not have sufficient contrast between the text and background colours. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast minimum. We plan to amend this by July 2024.
3. Headings and labels. Headings and labels describe the topic or purpose. If these are missing this doesn't meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.4.6 Headings and Labels. We plan to amend this by July 2024
4. Page titles. PDF documents should have titles that describe the topic or purpose of the page. If these are missing this doesn't meet WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.4.2. Page Titled. We plan to amend this by July 2024

PDFs and other documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By January 2024, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix [example of non-essential document].

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

This statement was prepared on 07 March 2023. It was last reviewed on 03 April 2024.

This website was last tested on 1 March 2024. The test was carried out by Walsall Council DaTS Team The tests included:

• a mixture of simple manual checks and automated tests to find only the most common barriers to users with accessibility needs
• manual checks using each page without a mouse, viewing the page at different zoom settings, and simulating viewing the page on a small screen

The automated tests were completed using the latest version of Axe and WAVE.

Tests were completed using different settings in the Internet Explorer browser on Lenovo ThinkPad with a 13-inch screen